Reform to education expense deductions

19/07/2013

The Tax Institute and the Business Law Section of the Law Council of Australia have made a joint submission to the Treasury in relation to the discussion paper, Reform to Deductions for Education Expenses that proposes to impose a $2,000 cap on deductions for losses and outgoings incurred in relation to education. Of particular interest to members is the finding that:

The proposed cap on education expense deductions will have a particular effect on barristers and sole solicitor practitioners who are required to finance their own education needs. It will result in the training and education obtained by them being much more costly than that provided to an employed solicitor.

Many barristers and sole solicitor practitioners will spend tens of thousands of dollars per year on legal texts, journals, online services and other such materials. Individual expenditure on these materials is essential to the practising lawyer as they are tools of the trade. Knowledge maintained through access to these materials is a tool of trade for lawyers in precisely the same way as a tradesperson’s tools are essential to their trade – it is impossible to properly do either job without them.

19 July 2013